


Like Clockwork

by Schnaucl (Onetrackmind)



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Gen, from prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-12
Updated: 2008-08-12
Packaged: 2017-11-21 03:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/592692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onetrackmind/pseuds/Schnaucl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prompt was Charlie - a broken clock sitting in the middle of the kitchen table</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Clockwork

Charlie looked at the gear in his hand and back down at the clock, spread out in pieces on the kitchen table. He bit his bottom lip, trying to decide if the gear looked a little bent.   
  
“Aren’t you a little old to be taking apart things that you can’t put back together?” Don asked, coming into the kitchen and taking a beer from the fridge.  
  
“It was already broken. I’m fixing it. And aren’t you a little old to be constantly mooching other people’s beer?”  
  
“Hey, I bring over beer to make up for it,” Don protested. He sat down in the chair adjacent to Charlie’s and took a swallow of beer.   
  
He watched Charlie in silence until Charlie finally looked up, exasperated. “Yes?”  
  
“Nothing, just watching you.”  
  
Charlie looked at him warily but went back to disassembling the clock. He cleaned all the pieces and started trying to put it back together again. Don offered commentary, mostly unhelpful at first, but then he must have been interested in spite of himself and they bickered amicably about which piece went where.   
  
Two and a half hours later they had completely reassembled the clock. Charlie set the clock in motion and they gave each other huge grins when it started to tick. It stopped ticking exactly 37 seconds later. Don clapped Charlie’s shoulder with one hand and said, “You’re on your own, buddy.”


End file.
